Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Anyone still out there?? Contractions and Interesting Words

First of all.. is anyone still reading my blog? I know I fell off the earth and went M.I.A a bit ago, but I am really attempting to get back into regular posts! I hope y'all haven't forgotten about me! A simple comment will let me know you are still out there! :) I'm hoping y'all are! :-/

So onto my post!...One of my very first posts was about a ladybug activity I used for contractions. This week our "spelling" list was the contractions with am, is, and will. I really liked my ladybug activity but OBviously it doesn't fit the season. So, I thought of a way to make it go with our Gingerbread Baby story that we read this week.

I created a gingerbread man with a coat. :)

The two words that go together to make the contraction are written on each side of the jacket and the contraction is written on the tummy of the gingerbread man. I use a brad to connect the middle top of the jacket so that it can swing open.

After choosing their contraction and finishing the gingerbread man, the students think of a sentence to use with their contraction. They write their sentence on large manilla paper with the gingerbread man as part of their sentence.

I LOVE finding and discussing interesting words with my students...especially during read alouds. My favorite books to read with a great selection of interesting words are Jan Brett books. Her stories are FILLED with interesting words..Most with TOO many to keep track of throughout the story! Sometimes I can't get a good flow and read the story without students freaking out about interesting words on each page!

With that said, each year I have an interesting word wall in my room. We use this to post interesting words we find in read alouds and from their books during independent reading. I use this as a great reference for students to use them in their own writing. Students really get into searching for interesting words AND using them! :)

I usually print a picture of the cover of the read-aloud we are using for the week. After the read aloud a few students write the words and definitions on strips of white paper. Then we post them on the wall.

I think posting them with the picture of the book really helps with them connecting to the word and remembering where it was found and how it was used.
And literally, we constantly reference our interesting word wall every day! If you don't have one, I most definitely recommend it!

Lastly, here is a picture of my classroom door! I was going to do the cute reindeer stable buuut my neighbor had her's saved from last year and was reusing it this year after I had already completed my background...so I changed to wrapping my door as a gift at the last minute...Nothing TOO fantabulous..but it's cute and simple. (although the bow was definitely not simple)

It was really funny when my students came in the next day.. They all read the tag and started touching and feeling the door... trying to look behind it... like there was actually something there! Mind you- the door was open as they were doing this...Oh goodness.. I got a good chuckle out of that.

The contractions thing does look cute, and of course every classroom is doing gingerbread now because it is SO the perfect time! (Festive, but PC enough for students that don't do "Christmas.")I'm not a regular reader, more of a "blog-hopper," but I will have to start "hopping" on by here a little more often.

I am a teacher from Pearland, Texas! Pearland is a suburb of Houston. I have been teaching for 5 years. I taught first grade for 2 years when I created this blog. Now, I am a second grade ELA teacher! :) Enjoy!